Joseph eivoike



(No Model.)

' J. RI-VOIRE.

CUSHION FOR BILLIARD TABLES.

Patented May 5, 1885.

[flaminmdc STATES PATENT OFFICE,

JOSEPH RIVOIRE, OF PARIS, FRANCE.

CUSHION FOR BlLLlARD'-TABLES.

SPECIPICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 317,017, dated May 5, 1885.

Applicationlfiled March 9, 1885 (No model.) Patented in France July 3, 1882, No. 149,904.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, J osErH RIVOIRE, of the city of Paris, France, have invented a new and useful Improvement'in Cushions of Billiard-Tables, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, and for which I have obtained Letters Patent in France, for fifteen years, dated 3d day of July, 1882, and numbered 149,904.

The cushions of billiard-tables as heretofore made may be ranged under three classes, viz: first, those composed of list superposed upon a wood backing; second, the so-called metallic cushions, formed of wood strips covered with cloth and attached to spiral springs embedded in said strips; third, the so-called American cushions, made of wood covered with india-rubber of peculiar form. Each of these kinds of cushions possesses disadvantages.

The invention forming the subject of the present application for Letters Patent combines all the advantages of existing cushions without anyof their disadvantages.

It consists, essentially, in the application of a series of metallic flexible or spring plates superposed one on the other, and each faced with a strip of fabric separating it from the plates immediately contiguous.

In the accompanying drawings,which serve to illustrate my invention by way of example, Figure 1 represents a transverse vertical section of the improved cushion as applied to a billiard-table. Fig. 2 represents separate views of the metallic spring-plates with the strips of fabric applied. Fig. 3 shows in face view the several spring-plates superposed one on the other, the intervening strips being omitted.

My improved cushion is composed of a wood strip or rail, a, made to fit the angle [2, formed by the table-top c and the sides d, and with a face, 6, the inclination of which is regulated according to the slant to be given to the superposed series of spring-plates and strips of fabric forming the elastic cushion. The springplates are eight in number, (more or less,) regularly applied one on the other in the order of their depth, the narrowest strip, 9, being placed next the rail a, and the widest strip, h, farthest therefrom. There 1s the same difference in depth between the several strips, so that when superposed a section of the whole, as shown in Fig. 1, will represent almost a right-angled triangle, having for its long side the widest strip, h, for its short side the line 1 2, formed by the base of each strip, and for hypotenuse the line 3 4, formed by the narrowest strip, 9, and the stages formed by the overlapping of the remainder of the plates. All the strips have transverse slits 1' throughout their length and proportionate to their width, and between the strips are placed strips of fabric, Z, also slitted opposite to the slits t, and made of a width slightly exceeding that of the spring-strips. (See Fig. 2.) The object of thus interposing the fabricbetween the strips is to prevent the noise which would be produced by the plates coming in contact on being struck by the ball.

The following is the method of fitting the series of spring-plates to the rail a and applying the covering to the same: The first strip of fabric, which is not slit, is applied upon the part c of the rail a, forming the lower part of the inclination e, and upon this strip is applied in line therewith a series of narrow spring-strips, upon which is then applied a strip of fabric having slits opposite to those of the next series of spring-plates applied thereon, a similar strip of fabric provided with slits being interposed between every two spring-plates for the remainder of the series until the last plate, h, is reached. Care should be taken in mounting the strips to have all the lower edges in the same line, 1 2, and at right angles to the widest strip, h. This done, two strips of cloth are then applied upon the spring-strips, after which, by means of a stout fabric enveloping the whole and glued to the upper and under sides of the rail a, the several metallic strips and strips of fabric are firmly united to the same. The strips, after being first placed in position, are temporarily held in place by means of pegs inserted in holes made in said plates and in the rail a, and the Whole is fixed by means of nails or pins m, inserted in place of the pegs, clamps n being placed beneath the heads of the nails. The cushion is then glued on the table in the same manner as an ordinary cushion, and the cloth covering then applied in the usual manner, and secured by 11 means of tacks, &c. strips with intervening thicknesses of fabric, 15

Referring to Figs. 2 and 3, it will be seen also slitted, as described, for the purposespeci- 5 that, in order to obtain anequal amount of fled.

elasticity throughout the entire length of the The foregoing specification of my improvecushion, the several slits in the superposed sement in cushions of billiard-tables signed by In a cushion for billiardtables, the combiation of resilient metallic slitted plates or ries of spring-p1ates and strips of fabric are me this 19th day of February, 1885. all made to break joint with each other. The JOSEPH RIVOIRE. 1o spring-plates are to be made of steel of the Vitnesses:

EDWARD P. MAOLEAN, ALBERT MOREAU.

best quality and temper.

I claim. 

